Jason's Untimely Thoughts

Sarah & I were out of town over the weekend, so I didn’t watch any football. I was frantically checking scores, however, especially once I started to clue in to all the upsets going on.

Thanks be to the MU schedule makers who allowed us to have a BYE this week instead of playing the Cornshuckers. The weekend’s action should have drilled in to the Tigers’ collective head that anyone can beat anyone in college football, should you not be ready to play. Now they’ll be prepared and won’t overlook the lowly boys from Nowledge, who come in as 7-point underdogs hoping to shock the world.

Beat Nebraska, screw ku.

It’s still football season, although the Tigers are taking it light with ISU-light this week.  That’s Illinois State, not Iowa State.  Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m., I hope to be tailgating by 10:30.  No word on food yet, although I do expect to have lunch of some variety.  CJ’s wings would be a reasonable guess.  If you’d like us to haul stuff for you, will happily do so as long as it’s at our house before early Saturday morning.

Our beloved Tigers are ranked #25 in the most recent polls, while ISU is ranked #14 in the subterranean division, or whatever the hell they’ve decided to call this collection of crap teams.  With a good showing and some definite losses happening in the polls above us, Tigers should move up by beating up on a cupcake this weekend before moving up a little more by playing no one next weekend.  That’s a literal no one, not the figurative no one we’re playing this week.

I know almost nothing about Illinois State, except that their mascot is a Redbird.  I went to their website, their motto appears to be “Go You Redbirds”.  Inspirational.  This Redbird looks strikingly similar to the bird that’s stuck in Iowa State’s cyclone, so I assume that these two schools are bitter rivals.  Matching initials, matching mascot, matching colors, bordering states, they either hate each other or have massive man-crushes.  I choose hatred, as that’s what makes me most comfortable.

The stuck-part-of-the-Cyclones-logos did almost beat K-State last year, although that was before the invasion of the Power Towels.  No way they could have played close with that grey squirrel chasing them with a towel all day.

Speaking of hatred, insert anti-ku diatribe here.

Happy fall Tiger fans,

The happiest time of the year delayed its debut in Mid-Missouri for two weeks, allowing blues, BBQ, and bicycles to bring in the fall. The combination has us anticipating a weird home opener. The weather is decidedly October-like, the opponent is decidedly non-descript, and we’ve already seen the Tigers have 2 wins under their belt over quality competition.

Coach Bill Cubit brings the Western Michigan Broncos to Columbia for a 1:00 kickoff on Saturday. They were pre-season favorites to win the MAC, but have started 0-2 with losses to West Virginian and Indiana. In keeping with recent tradition, we’ll start the home season by tailgating with the Miller’s crowd. Drinks and Buckingham’s aplenty, starting at 11:00, with 200 or so of my closest co-workers. The kids and I will likely be at the tailgate by 9:30, so come on out whenever you like. We’ll be happy to haul stuff for you, as always, but I remind you, drinks and Buckingham’s aplenty, starting at 11:00.

Cubit is no stranger to Faurot Field. He was offensive coordinator for the Broncos when they raced up and down the field against our Tigs in a 1999 MU victory. The next year he showed up on our sidelines as co-offensive coordinator in what turned out to be a bad year. My lasting memory of his control over our offense is the Tigers working all pre-game in “secrecy” in the Devine Pavilion, to allegedly surprise the other team with our new sneaky no-huddle offense. Not so good on the surprise o’meter, is my recollection.

Adelaide’s fifth-birthday is coming up, for which she’ll be having a rock star party. Kids are supposed to dress up like their favorite Rock Star or High School Musical character. Speaking of HS Musical, someone who shall not be named compared getting his photo taken with Chase Daniel on the field after the Ole Miss game to “meeting your favorite High School Musical character.” A big dork, just has two little girls at home, or both, you decide.

We’ve beat the Indians and the Rebels, with Bronco-taming next on the schedule in our mascotonial trip through American Yankee history. Damn Yankees. On a side note, screw ku.